Machine for feeding stacked articles

ABSTRACT

A machine which takes upright stacks of flat articles such as carton blanks or the like from a pallet, straightens each stack, and feeds the articles from the stack in a shingled stream. The machine includes a crane which is programmed to pick up stacks from a plurality of locations on the pallet. Each stack is transferred to a conveyor which first advances the stack to a stack straightening device which tips the stack from upright to horizontal position to separate articles in the stack and straightens and centers the stack. The stack is then restored to upright position on the conveyor and is advanced to elevators which raise the stack against a pick-off belt which withdraws articles from the top of the stack in a stream shingle-fashion. The stream is directed around a drum which inverts the articles in the stream, and the stream is discharged.

United States Patent Runyan et a1.

MACHINE FOR FEEDING STACKED ARTICLES Inventors: Kenneth R. Runyan, Dayton;

Quentin E. Honnert, Cincinnati; Ronald H. Porter, Milford, all of Ohio Assignee: Multifold-International, lnc.,

Milford, Ohio Filed: Jan. 28, 1974 Appl. No.: 437,167

[451 Sept. 23, 1975 Primary Examiner-Robert J. Spar Assistant Examiner-George F. Abraham Attorney, Agent, or Firm-James W. Pearce; Roy F. Schaeperklaus [57] ABSTRACT A machine which takes upright stacks of flat articles such as carton blanks or the like from a pallet, straightens each stack, and feeds the articles from the stack in a shingled stream. The machine includes a crane which is programmed to pick up stacks from a plurality of locations on the pallet. Each stack is transferred to a conveyor which first advances the stack to a stack straightening device which tips the stack from upright to horizontal position to separate articles in the stack and straightens and centers the stack. The stack is then restored to upright position on the conveyor and is advanced to elevators which raise the stack against a pick-off belt which withdraws articles from the top of the stack in a stream shingle-fashion. The stream is directed around a drum which inverts the articles in the stream, and the stream is dis charged.

6 Claims, 40 Drawing Figures US Patent Sept. 23,1975 Sheet 1 of 31 3,907,273

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US Patent Sept. 23,1975 Sheet 19 of 31 3,907,273 

1. A machine for withdrawing articles from the top of an upright stack of flat articles and feeding the articles thErefrom shingle-fashion which comprises means for raising the stack of articles to bring the topmost article in the stack to a pick-off station, a pick-off device at the pick-off station which includes a frame, a pick-off belt running on the frame, the belt having a lower course arranged for flatwise engagement with the topmost article, means for pivotally mounting the frame adjacent a discharge end of the pick-off device, a discriminator at the pick-off station engageable with articles below the topmost articles in the stack, means for driving the pick-off belt to advance the topmost articles over the discriminator, and conveyor means receiving the articles as they pass over the discriminator, the pick-off belt engaging articles underlying the topmost article as the topmost article is being advanced by the pick-off belt to advance the articles in shingle-fashion.
 2. A machine as in claim 1 wherein there is means for controlling the advance of the stack raising means, the end of frame remote from the pivoted end can advance up and down as the stack is raised, and means is connected to the frame remote from the pivot and to the controlling means for causing raising of the stack when the end of the frame remote from the pivot falls below a predetermined position.
 3. A machine as in claim 1 wherein there is a conveyor receiving articles passing over the discriminator, the discriminator being arranged to permit the articles to flow shingle-fashion onto the conveyor.
 4. A machine as in claim 3 wherein the articles flow onto the conveyor with trailing edges up, and there is a drum rotatably mounted adjacent the discriminator, the conveyor traveling approximately 180 degrees around the drum to invert the articles, and a discharge conveyor receiving the articles from the drum with the leading edges of the articles up.
 5. A machine as in claim 1 wherein the means for raising the stack includes a fork elevator underlying the pick-off station, the fork elevator including spaced horizontal forks, a stack delivery conveyor including a plurality of conveyor belts extending between the forks of the fork elevator when the fork elevator is in a lowered position, means for advancing the stack delivery conveyor to advance a first stack onto the forks, means for advancing the fork elevator upwardly to bring the topmost article in the stack into engagement with the pick-off belt, and means for advancing the conveyor belts when the first stack has been raised to advance a second stack to a standby station adjacent the lowered position of the forks.
 6. A machine as in claim 5 wherein the stack raising means also includes a tongue elevator above the fork elevator, the tongue elevator being constructed to lift the stack from the fork elevator when the fork elevator has raised the stack a predetermined distance, the fork elevator returning to the lowered position when the tongue elevator has lifted the stack, and means for advancing the conveyor belts to advance the second stack onto the fork elevator when the tongue elevator has raised the stack sufficiently to be above the top of the second stack. 